


A Brief History of Juggling

by deskclutter



Category: Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-24
Updated: 2010-06-24
Packaged: 2017-10-10 06:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deskclutter/pseuds/deskclutter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tristran decides, upon leaving Wall, that it would be opportune to learn how to juggle. Yvaine humours him, because.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Brief History of Juggling

**Title:** A Brief History of Juggling  
**Day/Theme:** October 9th / the definitive history of nothing in particular  
**Series:** Stardust (book-verse)  
**Character/Pairing:** Tristran/Yvaine  
**Rating:** PG

Some time after they left Wall, and the Market, and when they were rather far from Stormhold, Tristran asked Yvaine, "Do you know how to juggle?"

And Yvaine said, "No, there was very little opportunity for juggling when I hung in the sky."

"Ah," said Tristran. "Well, then, we can learn together."

"Learn to juggle?" asked the star incredulously. "What a foolish notion! Whoever heard of a king who juggled -- or a star, for that matter?"

But she did not stop him when he bought two sets of coloured balls from a carnival, three each to a set. His set was painted yellow, red, and orange, while hers were green, blue, and purple. These turned brown the first time they fell into the mud, and Tristran lost Yvaine's blue ball when they escaped from the Eyries of the North. He generously offered her the use of his yellow ball whenever she needed to practice.

And practice they did, though Yvaine still called it silly, and when the nights were long, they would toss the balls in the air to one another, juggling in tandem.

"Do you ever wonder what we would have been if you were not a star and I were not a king?" Tristran asked one evening when the balls flashed red and green and purple between them.

"No," said Yvaine, concentrating carefully on her feet, for she had had forgotten her lame leg for a moment when they had first juggled and had slipped.

"I could have been a man in a mask, in a circus, perhaps," said Tristran. "When I was young I wanted to run away and join the circus."

Yvaine snorted. "Then you would not have met me, and I would now be dead or worse."

"I _am_ rather glad I didn't," admitted Tristran, before a pack of large, slavering wolves leapt out of the forest, and it was only through quick thinking and the loss of the orange ball that Tristran and Yvaine managed to escape.

"It's too bad I dropped it," sighed Tristran.

Yvaine, who had never quite seen a ball dropped in such a manner that suggested more a forceful ejection from the hand towards the faraway copse of firs than a mere fumble, did not remark on it. She said instead, "You may have the use of mine when you need them."

"Why, thank you," said Tristran. "Though I should hate to lose more of them, bumbling fool that I am."

"Tristran Thorne," said Yvaine. "The only living being on this earth allowed to call you a fool is myself."

"Oh," said Tristran. "Then, I apologise, Yvaine."

"Clod-headed fool," said Yvaine, but she was glowing gently.

They lost the last ball on a winter's day to pay for lodging. Its bright colour had faded away to the wood underneath, but it was a star-touched ball, and it sold for quite a bit.

Tristran pocketed the coins and looked thoughtful. "When we have used up this coin, perhaps we should go back to Stormhold," he said. "Mother isn't getting younger."

"Haven't I been telling you so for years?" said Yvaine tartly.

"We should buy new balls on the way back," said Tristran. "I think we have improved."

"You never were butterfingered to begin with, Tristran Thorne," said Yvaine.

"Perhaps not," said Tristran.

And off they went into the day, a small trail of stardust lingering in their mingled footsteps.


End file.
